Why do we make photographs?

Sure, some of the answers are obvious -- people will pay us to do it or they'll

buy what we've made. But, what about the personal work that we do for ourselves?

 

It's easy to say it's for fun, but I suspect there's more to it than just that.

Are we responding to some primal urge to create beauty or to express something

that can't be accomplished with words? Maybe we're seeking validation or

recognition. Does it even matter?

We are doing it to mark out a space separate from nature and nature's chaos. Nature is

beyond our control, in constant motion, so we create a frozen version of it in the form of a

still. It is a ritual, like drawing animals on the wall of a cave in order to get good hunting. We

fear nature because we are completely subject to it. So we make pictures to get a feeling of

control, and maybe to appease the gods. Culture is a defense against nature.

You might just as well ask why climb mountains, write books or poetry, watch movies or TV, knit sweaters, or play golf. All are leisure pursuits; pursued purely for the distraction from the rest of life and for the joy of the accomplishment.

What a depressingly tepid bloody answer.

I can only speak for myself, but I make photographs because I can't

even draw a stick figure.

Thanks, Kevin -- I would never have thought of it that way, but I see your point very clearly. I suppose it's something akin to the construction of religious beliefs and the way they give their followers a sense of being protected from a hostile force. By reducing a vastly complex natural object to a two-dimensional abstraction, we've sort of "put it in its place." Maybe that helps to explain the popularity of Photoshopism and the extreme manipulation it affords.

I think I do it for all of the reasons you've mentioned, although I gave up on the money aspect ages ago - it's too much like work.

 

I've always felt that Winogrands classic response of 'to see what it looks like in a photograph' is closest to my true feelings (I can't remember the exact phrase). What I'm interested in is why we post or show them to others? There has to be some ego involved in this part. How many would still photograph if they did not get complimented on their photos?

I wrote two "bookend" Haikus that relate to this for a local photography museum's annual report:

 

Bless'd to see Beauty

 

in every square inch of Earth:

 

the photographer.

 

*

 

*

 

*

 

Cursed to see Beauty

 

in every square inch of Earth:

 

the photographer.

 

(Copyright 2006, Dave Powell)!

 

--Dave

Flash cards for my piss-poor memory.

I agree with Andy's mentioned quote.....Winogrand's "..to see what it looks like as a photograph...". Although, until I saw that quote years ago, I never really understood why I photographed. But, it does explain every pic I've ever taken. I know that it explains my childhood pics to a "tee"...oh, I took the family snaps, but I took pictures of a lot of stuff my parents hated paying the developing for....heh.....and when asked why, I still remember saying something like "I thought it would look cool as a picture". But it also explains my adulthood pics. somethings I think when I see them......jeez, wonder what that would look like as a pic.

 

A fellow photographer friend of mine once said "even now (30 something) I'm still amazed that this is actually possible (photographs)". I knew instantly what he meant. It is amazing that I can take a 3D scene and put it and my feelings about it to a 2D piece of paper. And there is this intensive drive to get that transference to be more "real" (ie real as in my thoughts on it) everytime I pic up the camera.

 

That's the essence of "to see what it would look like as a photograph". Knowing where I want to get....at least feeling wise....and seeing how close I get this time around.

 

And then there's that spine tingling sensation that runs up and down my spine when i do get it right. I don't know the technical term for it.......but the taking of something I saw/felt and then seeing it later on the monitor/print and when I get it right, this rush of endorphin high that just zings up my spine.

 

so.......I guess I photograph to get "high"?......no, no, no.......I photograph to see what it would look like as a photograph.

 

;o)

"And then there's that spine tingling sensation that runs up and down my spine when i do get it right. I don't know the technical term for it.......but the taking of something I saw/felt and then seeing it later on the monitor/print and when I get it right, this rush of endorphin high that just zings up my spine. "

 

Beautiful!!

Why do we make photographs? Because we can.

Dick, I like your recent photo of the hydrangeas. I have some deep blue mop-head hydrangeas in he garden, they look good at dusk.

 

Cheers.

" took the family snaps, but I took pictures of a lot of stuff my parents hated paying the developing for"

 

That's hilarious Tom. That's exactly what happened to me when I was about 10 or 11. Worse yet I didn't realize the old Konica I was using had a telescoping lens, so the photos were not only of strange subjects but they were also out of focus. I caught hell for that one.

Thanks, Ben! Since the picture wasn't made with a camera (scanned on a flatbed,) I'm not sure if it's even a photograph, but the term "digital art" doesn't seem to fit, either.

When I try to draw or paint, I never have any new ideas, just the same few themes. THere simply aren't that many ideas that I want to express in art. I want to show the chaos and unpredictability in the world, and simply observe what happens. Photography lets me say simply "this is", with less interperetive baggage.

"Photography lets me say simply "this is", with less interperetive baggage."

 

I suspect that's why it's the medium of choice for many, though those who choose it may end up putting as much into their photography as they otherwise would into any other art form. Your own work suggests you've given it a lot of thought, doesn't it? Did you at some point make a conscious decision to click instead of paint a particular subject?

To escape reality.

David, why would you want to escape reality? How does making a photograph help you to do that?

Dick,

 

I'm glad you said "make" photographs. When I find myself asking, "Why did I take that?" I

realize it's because I just took it--it's representational; I've made a pretty picture, perhaps,

but so what?

 

I take pictures in the hope that I'll make one every so often, something that might give me

(and someone else) reason to pause.

 

Best...

I also find photography to be an escape from day to day life. I love my life, but a life where I could spend 100% of my time making photographs simply for the pleasure of making photographs would be the best life of all to me.

 

I also love the challenge of creating something special that makes me feel proud of what I have created. I could really care less what others think. OK, I care what my wife thinks, but that's the only person.

For me it is the thril of hunting (among others). It occurs if I zoom after playing children or try to keep a artist during a concert in focus, waiting for the light to become good again or him to do something different, like opening his eyes or whatever. - I wouldn't like the idea of choping a recently shot elephant or rabbit into my frying pan, computer games become boring, so photography is a quite essential substitute.

Evidence.

For me it's meditation. Catholics and Muslims (and others I'm sure) have their prayer beads, Zen Buddhists have their koans, I have the aperture ring, shutter speed ring and release buttons to fiddle with. And I have a world of excess information to remove to find the answer.

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